The administrators of Safe Hands Plans, the collapsed pre-paid funeral company that left 46,000 customers with a £60 million shortfall, have successfully appointed liquidators to Navigator, a Cayman Islands firm where customer funds were diverted, as reported by The Times.
This move comes amid allegations of the “misuse of trust funds” and is regarded as a crucial step toward recovering money for affected funeral plan holders, administrators at FRP Advisory have announced.
Safe Hands Plans entered administration in March 2022 after withdrawing its application for Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) regulation of the pre-paid funerals market. Investigations by FRP revealed that a large portion of customer funds held in trust had been funnelled into Navigator, which subsequently loaned approximately £28.7 million to SHP Capital Holdings, Safe Hands’ parent company.
SHP Capital, operating from a Mayfair address, used these funds for high-risk, illiquid investments, loans to connected companies, and even financing a film titled The Chelsea Cowboy.
Customers, who had paid in instalments to cover future funeral costs, were assured their payments would be securely invested in a ring-fenced trust. Marketing materials for the company had featured the late England football legend Gordon Banks, further bolstering its credibility.
However, FRP estimates that only £7.06 million to £9.39 million of trust assets may be recoverable – far below the £64 million to £70 million in estimated claims from funeral plan holders.
In July 2023, FRP submitted a winding-up petition against Navigator, citing alleged misuse of trust funds. A Cayman Islands court, led by Justice Kawaley, granted the petition, placing Navigator into liquidation. FRP told The Times:
“This means that the directors of Navigator no longer have control of Navigator and instead licensed insolvency practitioners in the Cayman Islands have taken control of Navigator. This outcome is in the interests of the trust as now reputable and independent insolvency practitioners in the Cayman Islands can investigate the affairs of Navigator including the past acts of its current and former directors.
It also ensures that any distribution to be paid by SHP Capital Holdings Limited in its liquidation to Navigator in respect of the Navigator debt is properly applied in accordance with the insolvency laws in the Cayman Islands and that the position of the trust as an investor in the Navigator Funds is protected. This successful outcome is also an important step in the process for distribution of trust assets to plan holders.”
